Applicators consisting of a wooden or plastic tube, having a bud of cotton on one or both ends, are widely used for numerous purposes, such as for the topical application of substances to the human body. A demand exists for an article of this kind which serves not only as the applicator, but also as the container for the substance that is to be applied. To be practical, such a device would have to have a manually frangible portion that can readily be broken, while at the same time being so constructed as to prevent inadvertent fracture. An applicator of this nature would be useful for numerous purposes in addition to the personal cosmetic and medical applications alluded to.
Accordingly, it is a broad object of the present invention to produce inexpensively and efficiently provide a novel applicator consisting of a plastic tube component with a permeable member attached to one end, the tube being hollow, to adapt it for the containment of a substance to be dispensed, and having a frangible portion under the permeable member that can be broken to form a flow orifice, when desired.
It is a more specific object of the invention to provide such an applicator and tube component in which the level of force necessary to effect fracturing of the frangible portion is controlled so as to resist inadvertent breakage while, at the same time, permitting the fracture to occur at a convenient level of manual force.
Other objects of the invention are to provide a novel mold for producing the tube component, and a novel method, utilizing the mold, in which the tube component can be produced conveniently and inexpensively, and at high rates of speed, while also ensuring that the ultimate article will exhibit the desired functional characteristics.